SDFM The Business of Defense
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U/S intelligence agents are on the hunt around the world for Osama bin Laden\'s associates. Fred Burton, VP of intelligence at Stratfor says, \"the first step is the identification of the individual and the second step is what country are they located in and can you find them.\" Mullah Omar, Ayman at Zawahiri and Anwar al Awlaki are the top of the list. And if any of them are in Pakistan says Burton, \"That\'s going to pose a unique problem at this time.\" That problem is restoring trust between the two countries in time to capture them before they disappear.
May 25, 2011 -
May 23rd and May 25th How is USCIS enhancing its outreach and becoming more customer-centric? Join us and guest Alejandro Mayorkas as we discuss.
May 25, 2011 -
President Barack Obama has sent a blunt and chilling warning to Al Qaida. \"We not only took out (Osama Bin Laden) the symbol and operational leader of Al Qaida, we walked off with his files.\" He called it the largest treasure trove of intelligence ever seized from a terrorist. \"Today every terrorist in the al Qaida network should be watching their back, because we\'re going to review every video, examine every photo, read every one of those millions of pages, we\'re going to pursue lead,\" said Mr. Obama. He told an audience at the CIA, they\'re going to go wherever they have to go to finish the job.
May 23, 2011 -
The Army surgeon general says U.S. troops in Afghanistan are suffering with the highest rates of mental health problems since 2005 and morale is skidding. The report is a significant and detailed glimpse of the psychological cost of the battle that commanders claim has reversed the momentum of the insurgency. The doctors say morale is suffering given the dramatic increase in fighting, which is at the highest level since they started doing their mental health studies in 2003.
May 23, 2011 -
Why did Al Qaida appoint Saif al Adel as their interim leader? U.S. intelligence sources say there is a split in the al Qaida organization and there a those who don\'t trust him and feel as though the Egyptian contingent of the organization which is led by Al Qaida number two Ayman al Zawahiri is not radical enough. A former U.S. intelligence official says most of the Al Qaida rank and file wanted a Saudi because they are perceived as having better Islamic credentials. What does the discord mean for Al Qaida? Experts say al Qaida is accustomed to disagreements.
May 23, 2011 -
So who\'s leaking the material from the Bin Laden raid? Former CIA Osama Bin Laden chief Michael Scheuer on CNN said only a handful high well known ranking intelligence officials have access to it. It\'s also especially ironic because several former intelligence officials say that some members of the media were being scrutinized after being suspected of receiving classified material and legal action pursued. No word yet on whether an investigation into the Bin Laden leaks will happen or not.
May 23, 2011 -
The killing of a Hassan al-Qahtani, a Saudi diplomat in Karachi, Pakistan has raised a lot of questions in the intelligence world. Why him? Why wasn\'t he driving an armored vehicle? Why was he even driving himself? Karachi is known to be a hotbed of terrorist activity and the Saudi government is known to be hated by Al Qaida. In the meantime The Saudi\'s say they will increase security for their diplomats around the world and at home. Al Qaida has vowed it will avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.
May 23, 2011 -
China and the U/S will hold their first top tier military talks since 2009 this week and there will be a 500lb elephant in the room. Pakistan has reportedly been approached by the Chinese about sharing the wreckage of the stealth helicopter used in the Osama Bin Laden raid. Pakistan supposedly has said it will not share it, but the U/S military is still leery about that according to sources close the Pentagon. The Chinese are trying to develop a fleet of stealth air craft of their own.
May 23, 2011 -
Two New York men were arrested in a sting after police witnessed them trying to buy guns and grenades. Algerian-born Ahmed Ferhani, 26, and Moroccan-born Mohammed Mamdouh, 20, bought three pistols, ammunition and an inert grenade after a seven-month sting. At a news conference, New York Police commissioner Ray Kelley said \"Farhani also expressed interest in bombing the \"Empire State Building.\" The plot unraveled Wednesday. It was the 13th planned attack by Islamist militants on New York City since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
May 23, 2011 -
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Host Debra Roth is joined by Federal News Radio\'s Mike Causey, NARFE Legislative Director Dan Adcock, and World at Work\'s Lenny Sanicola to talk about pending legislation in Congress that would change retirement benefits for federal workers. May 20, 2011
May 20, 2011 -
Lawyers are reviewing whether permitting same-sex marriages on U.S. Navy bases will work. They’re also checking into whether allowing chaplains to officiate would be acceptable as well once a ban on gays serving openly in…
May 19, 2011 -
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is partnering with nine federal agencies for a new online initiative designed to boost digital literacy among Americans. The new DigitalLiteracy.gov is designed to centralize resources for teaching computer and Internet skills, so they can be easily deployed to public libraries and other learning sites across the country. NTIA says the target audience is the 28 percent of Americans who currently don\'t use the internet at all.
May 19, 2011 -
The Department of Agriculture is trying to shine a spotlight on what it calls \"food deserts\" -- low income neighborhoods with poor access to nutritious food. USDA\'s Economic Research Service developed a Food Desert Locator, a web-based mapping tool that shows food deserts across the U.S., and shows population characteristics in those census tracts. The Department says it wants to help policymakers and researchers expand access to fresh and healthy food in the 6500 deserts across the country.
May 19, 2011 -
A new mobile app lets smartphone users instantly check to see whether any product on a store shelf has been recalled, and why. The new recalls.gov app lets users scan a product\'s UPC code with their phone\'s camera, then searches government databases to see if it\'s been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Food and Drug Administration or the Department of Agriculture. It\'s one of 18 new mobile government apps the General Services Administration is making available as part of the redesign of the USA.gov website.
May 19, 2011